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Trees take root at Thousand Acres

Port of Portland, Friends of Trees adds native plants at Sandy River Delta Park near Troutdale.

After a day of digging by 160 volunteers, the natural area most locals call Thousand Acres has 1,600 new native trees and shrubs settling in and spreading roots.

The event on Saturday, Nov. 4, at Sandy River Delta Park outside Troutdale was organized by Friends of Trees and the Port of Portland.

"We own property in East County — and we're a neighbor," explained Environmental Outreach Manager Lisa Appel. "We want to enhance the communities we serve and operate (in)."

The plantings involved western serviceberry, black hawthorn, oceanspray, tall Oregon grape, Indian plum, mock orange, Garry oak, baldhip rose, thimbleberry and snowberry. Purchased for about $3 each, the total cost of the verdure was about $4,800.

The swath of flat land will serve as a buffer between Interstate 84 and the main parking lot, and could serve as a pit stop for migratory birds when the Oregon white oak mature.

Logan Lauvray, greenspace manager for Friends of Trees, says the organization had its eye on warmer long-term forecasts when selecting species like the white oak.

While day trippers and dog owners will surely appreciate the new batch of woodland habitat, Appel highlighted the Port of Portland's large-scale work ongoing at the Troutdale-Reynolds Industrial Park.

The Port has consolidated several small wetlands into one large habitat and used S-curves to "re-meander" a Multnomah County drainage ditch, which they've dubbed the Sundial Channel after an old ranch that once existed in the area.

That — plus filling in several gaps of the 40-Mile Loop Trail by 2020 — will create approximately 350 acres of dedicated wild space in the industrial park.

Lauvray said Friends of Trees would return in the coming months to spread mulch and pull weeds around the new seedlings.

Other presenting sponsors for the kid and pup-friendly event that ran from 9:30 to noon included Daimler Trucks North America and the Portland Trail Blazers' Threes for Trees program.

Kaiser Permanente's Cardiac Catheterization Lab fielded a 10-person contingent. Also tramping about were roughly 25 students from Central Catholic and 100 more from College Possible, a nonprofit AmeriCorps organization.